Breaking the Wall
by HerosMuse
Summary: An exploration of Sgt. Calhoun's point of view over the course of the movie.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note; Sorry if the pacing is a little off, I had originally intended for this to be a one-shot but once I had finished it I felt like it was a little too long for that so I split it up into two chapters at the best pause I could find. **

The sunlight shone around him like an aura, and glinted off his golden brown hair. Then he smiled down at her, until now Sgt. Calhoun of Hero's Duty saw the short little man only as a necessary annoyance, since he refused to be left behind. But there was something about the entirely unconventional way that he had just saved them both from the nes-quik sand that stirred something in the stone cold sergeant that she could not quite place. They were carried up to safe ground, or in this case a branch made of candy, like everything else in this ridiculous place.

He had big expressive eyebrows, and bright, sparkling eyes. Calhoune noted the curve of his flushed cheek and wondered what was making him blush so. They were once again on sure footing but instead of moving ahead with the mission, the good sergeant found herself strangely entranced by that endearing smile of his.

Then her gaze shifted behind his head to the vines of taffy. What the fun were they doing? Singing? She looked around to see the heart they were forming around the pair. It made her painfully aware of feelings that she usually worked very hard to suppress.

"Ugh." then she did what she usually did, suppressed them harder and then shot something, in this case the air. BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM she fired four angry rounds up above her head. "Alright enough with the goo goo eyes we've got work to do, let's go." she marched back to solid ground and pulled out her bug sensor, looking down at it she groaned, "we lost the cybug, come on we'll get a better view from the air," she gestured behind her and looked back at Felix, "you think you can fix that shuttle?"

"Can do," Calhoun allowed herself the smallest of smiles at Felix's self-assured answer. She then buried it under a scowl of concentration as she marched toward the fallen escape pod.

When they reached the shuttle the sergeant let out an irritated sigh, "this thing is like a rain slicked mountain after a mud slide, I'm sure it's going to take a while to fix."

"I wouldn't be too sure on that one ma'am." Felix grinned confidently with his hammer at the ready. As he got to work, Calhoun could hardly believe her eyes. She had seen what the hammer had done for his face and that was miraculous enough, but what would have taken her engineers a few days to complete, Felix fixed in a few seconds. He had never seen this shuttle or it's schematics before yet he brought it back to perfect working order maybe even better than her engineers could have.

"Well," Calhoun began inspecting the escape pod, "you do good work Short-stack," she said, impressed.

Felix smiled "well fixing _is_ my middle name... or rather my last name, heh. Fix-it that is, not fixing that would be a weird last name wouldn't it? Oh jiminy-jaminy I'm rambling aren't I?"

Calhoun was climbing up into the cockpit, "uh, huh" she looked over at the short repairman with a raised eyebrow, "are you coming or what?"

"Oh! Right, of course!" he hopped up with an audible BLING and landed right next to Calhoun in the one seat shuttle.

The sergeant placed her cybug sensor on the dashboard and locked it into place. With a mechanical roar she started up the engine and took of into the air. The pair rose high up above the brightly colored landscape and rocketed of in a random direction since the sensor still wasn't giving any readings. They flew in silence for a short while. As they traveled, the expression on the handyman's face got dopier and dopier. Calhoun could guess what this must mean, she wasn't stupid. A small part of her actually liked the attention but she certainly wasn't willing to address the issue, not directly.

"Your face is still red, you might want to hit it with your hammer," she commented.

"Oh that's not blunt force trauma, Ma'am. That's just the honey glow in my cheeks." Felix leaned forward slightly as he spoke.

"Okay," maybe she shouldn't have said anything at all, she really didn't want to have this conversation.

"Ma'am I just gotta tell you... you're one dynamite gal"

Dynamite gal. The words echoed in the darkest, most pain filled corners of her code, the same corners that she tried so hard to keep guarded. Normally she was fairly successful but for some reason the pint-sized handyman was able to breach the wall she put up.

This was _not_ okay.

Calhoun banked hard to the right and landed in a patch of sugary forest that surrounded what looked like a large castle. She hit the lever to open the hatch, "GET OUT!" she barked.

Alarmed and confused Felix responded, "all I said was you're a dynamite gal."

"I said get out!" her voice cracked, she hated to hear the sound of it, hear the weakness in it.

Felix hopped out of the shuttle and turned to say something else, but she hit the lever again to close the hatch. She couldn't risk lowering her guard and letting him back in, which she just might if she let him continue speaking.

She sped off, up into the air again and hit the throttle like a flyaway baseball hitting a stained glass window. The sergeant scowled down at the sensor as if she could force it to read a signal by sheer force of will.

Nothing.

She'd just have to circle around in a search pattern until something showed up. This could be a long day. Calhoun tried to focus on the task at hand but she found her mind drifting back to Felix. She had not handled that situation as well as she could have. He did not deserve so harsh a rejection, but she had panicked, and panicking was not a reaction she was accustomed to. She coped with it poorly, she was ashamed to admit, and as a soldier of her station she should have done much better.

Especially since he had been so courageous in the face of this whole catastrophe. He had barely flinched when they first met, even when she'd had the barrel of her rifle up his nose. She smiled at the memory. Then he'd said her face was amazing. She didn't want to admit that she'd liked it but she did. That was the most frustrating thing about this whole situation. Since she had lost Brad... well, she couldn't take the risk of letting anyone in again, even if Felix did cut a heroic figure.

A beep from the dashboard interrupted her internal struggle. "There you are!" she snarled and banked to land in the middle of a field of what looked like licorice of all things. Sgt. Tamora Jean Calhoun of Hero's Duty dropped down into the waist high stalks of theater candy after swiping the cybug sensor from the dashboard. She was all business as she prowled towards the indicative dot on the screen in her hand. She pulled out her side-arm and continued forward, her emerald eyes carefully scanning the landscape.

"Come on, I know you're out there" she looked back down at her sensor, it should be right in front of her. The signal abruptly dropped out, leaving her as lost as before. With a frustrated snarl she whacked the device a few times. "Saccharine-saturated nightmare." she was getting far too fed up with this sickly sweet game.

In response to her "technical tap" the cybug sensor flared to life with multiple readings densely packed in the immediate vicinity. She quickly surveyed the area, gun at the ready, but nothing could be seen. "But... where?" There was a rumble beneath her feet and a sudden sinking sensation then the ground simply gave way.

Calhoun scrambled for something to hold onto and found sanctuary in a licorice vine. She looked down to be confronted with a horrifying display. Sickening rage bubbled up in the sergeants throat. "Doomsday and Armageddon just had a baby and it is ugly," she snarled to herself.

There were too many of the deplorable monstrous cybug eggs she couldn't fight these things alone. If they had been back in her game all she would have had to do was fire up the beacon and they would destroy themselves.

But that wasn't and option here, and without it there was nothing she could really do. She had brief flashback to another time when she was powerless to save someone, to the day that should have been the happiest of her life, but had instead ended in an empty ammo belt from her Gatling gun. She involuntarily thought of Felix and felt her heart rise up in her throat and her vision grew wet and blurry.

No.

She would not let that happen... _ever _again. She swallowed hard and blinked away her tears and heaved herself back up to the surface. She may not be able to save this game but she could save it's people if she could evacuate them in time. And get that pint-sized fool back to his game where he would be safe. Then she'd blow this whole flying place up beyond all recognition and take every last stinking cybug with it.

She rushed back to the shuttle and sped off to the one place she was most likely to find the civilians of this game, the race's starting line. She just hoped she wasn't too late.


	2. Chapter 2

Calhoun flew over to the racetrack and in her haste, landed much more roughly than her training should have allowed. She paid no attention to this and leaped out of the cockpit and rushed toward the starting line, though it looked like the racers had already scattered across the track. That would make things a little more difficult. There were however two figures on the sidelines that she recognized; one was Felix, there was a mixture of relief, joy, and a pang in her chest that she didn't want to think about at the sight of him. The feelings that welled up at the sight of the other figure, the big oaf that had started this all, were much less confusing so she focused on those.

He was saying something about the race but Calhoun wasn't paying attention, she was aiming. WHAM one good smack to the jaw, "hope you're happy, Junk-pile. This game is going down, and it's all your fault."

Felix stepped forward, hope ghosting across his features, "my lady? You came back."

There was that pang in her chest again, she smothered it with a shout. "Can it Fix-it!" she turned back to the oaf, "that cybug you brought with you, multiplied."

Ralph defensively held up his hands, "no, it died in the taffy swamp"

As these words left his mouth, the ground began to shake, then it split open and cybugs began to pour out onto the track.

"Bull. Roar," she barked into Ralph's shocked face. She jumped on her cruiser and hovered up above the swarming citizenry. She then hollered out to the crowd in the stands, trying to make herself heard over the cacophony of the cybugs path of destruction. "Listen up! Head to Game Central station, NOW. Let's go, let's go, go, go!" Sgt. Calhoun covered their screaming retreat, blasting every cybug that came too close with her rifle.

The battle raged on as they made their way to the exit, there were just _so many _people to get out. The sea of sugary citizens flowed on and on, but so did the cybugs. Calhoun felt her rifle heating up through her gloves. Every time she shot a cybug down more just flew in to fill the gap. The good sergeant grinned. Cybugs, she knew how to deal with. There was nothing confusing to her about the chaos that swarmed around her. Pull the trigger, watch her enemy fall, simple.

There was the briefest of lulls in the cybug's assault, just long enough for Calhoun to scan the area and get her bearings. The first line of civilians had almost reached the archway that preceded to exit. Good there may just be some hope for this retreat yet. She searched the crowd again, looking for a certain short repairman... He wasn't there. Panic threatened to rise up in her once more but she forced it down as the next wave of cybugs descended upon her. This time she didn't find it so comforting.

Progress down the path was incredibly slow, but the rear of the pack finally approached the exit, even most of the racers had joined the evacuation by this point but still Felix had not shown up. She would just have to go back in for him once the civilians were free and clear. "Everybody out! Now, now, now!"

Then she saw him. Felix was running up the rainbow hued path with Wreck-it and one of the racers. They must have stayed behind to ensure that little girl got out safe too. There was another break in the cybug's advance just when most of the citizens had gotten out. Ralph and the racer rushed forward through the exit. Or that's what it had looked like at first, but something was clearly wrong, though Calhoun couldn't tell what.

By that time all of the candied subjects of Sugar Rush had made it though, now was the time to act. "That's everyone. Now we've got to blow up this exit," she jumped down from her cruiser.

The girl looked up at Ralph, "just go without me."

"No, I'm not leaving you here alone!"

Wait. What?... Why couldn't the girl leave?

Felix looked up at Calhoun, concerned, "but what about this game?"

The sergeant shook her head, "there's nothing we can do. Without a beacon, there's no way to stop these monsters." Calhoun pulled a landmine from her belt and began setting the charge.

"A beacon?" Ralph looked down at his small friend, "stay with Felix." The big stumblebum surged forward and leaped on her cruiser and began pushing himself forward with just his foot, then he started to get the hang of it. "Let me borrow that, lady."

What in the whirlpool did he think he was doing?

Apparently Felix had a similar thought, "Ralph! Where are you going?"

Ralph kept going. "I've got some wrecking to do!" and then he was gone.

Calhoun didn't have long to indulge in her confusion, another wave of cybugs began to speeding towards them. She'd give Wreck-it as much time as her last clip of ammo would buy to do whatever he was planning. The sergeant purposefully stepped forward to put herself between the cybugs and Felix as well as the small racer. But the cybugs were coming in fast, "Fix-it, get behind me!" after all this she was not going to let him get hurt.

She had faced these deplorable bags of filth everyday of her life, fought them thousands of times, but it had never been like this. She had never been this desperate in her life; this determined to not fail. Calhoun had always fought for only her own safety and the safety of her comrades but this was somehow different. There was so much more on the line here.

That's when her clip ran out.

She shifted her grip and began beating the cybugs away with the butt of her rifle. This earned her some measure of success, until one grabbed it in it's mandibles and yanked it from her fingers. Backing up, Calhoun pulled out her side arm and continued her assault. The cybugs were forcing them ever backward though, they could not do this forever. Soon even that ammunition ran dry and she was out of options. Something deep in her code told her to hold out just a little while longer. Besides, she had to respect that big warthog for running off like that and facing the cybugs head on. She didn't want to have to blow up the exit and leave him to his fate.

"Fall back!" she yelled after fruitlessly chucking her pistol at an advancing cybug. She grabbed the small child's hand and tried to look reassuring. Felix had her other hand, it looked like he had been able to guard the young racer while Calhoun was otherwise occupied. Together they backed up towards the exit but as they passed through the barrier, the sergeant felt the little girls hand slip out of her grip.

Alarmed, Calhoun unsheathed her bayonet and readied herself to spring forward at the monsters raining down on them. Beside her, Felix hefted his hammer and prepared to do the same.

The racer suddenly looked up over the heads of her attackers, "Ralph!" And then just as suddenly, she was standing on top of one cybug's head. Then the next and she continued down the swarm until she was out of sight.

"Vanellope!" Felix called, panic in his voice.

It's really hard to protect people when they keep running away from you, Calhoun thought. Her grip tightened on the smooth handle of her bayonet. There was still one person here she wanted to keep safe. She scowled in the face of the cybug horde descending upon them. The decision was made. Standing next to her was the one person she'd most wanted to protect... and she'd give her life to do it.

Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun of Hero's Duty charged forward with a scream of fury; bayonet raised high in the air, poised to strike down her enemy. The blade found nothing but air, however. The cybugs had turned from their assault, mesmerized by something in the distance. Further inspection revealed that something to be volcanic cola spewing from a bottle shaped mountain. The cybugs all sped toward this lethal illumination without reluctance and where quickly consumed by it.

"You did it, Ralph!" Felix laughed and slapped his knee, "way to go, brother!" There was the now familiar BLING sound and of all things Felix _kissed_ Calhoun on the cheek.

Surprised, Calhoun looked down at the short handyman. There was that pang in her chest again, this time she did not try to bury it behind her emotional barriers, she found all those walls had been torn down. Broken... by a man who was usually so good at fixing things. He looked terribly nervous and started to say something, she didn't give him the chance. She lifted him by his shirt collar, up to her level. Mischievously, the sergeant had the idea to glare him down, make him sweat a little, before firmly slamming her lips against his own. She could feel him smile, then he cupped her cheek in one gloved hand and they leaned in to the kiss.

In that kiss Tamora Calhoun felt a weight that she hadn't even realized was there lift from her shoulders. The sweet relief of finally letting go of all those repressed emotions that she had once thought weak and dangerous. Funny thing though, the good sergeant had never felt stronger.

**Author's Note: Aaaaaand that's the second half! hope you guys enjoyed it. And don't ask my why, but in my head cannon for some reason Calhoun has a mischievous streak in her. **


End file.
